As Vincent wiped this mutated substance off his clothes, it suddenly started to boil as if it was dying violently. It evaporated in mere seconds, leaving a green trail of steam. Not even a stain remained on his clothes.
"I think you are right. The green substance must be mutated blood. But it might be different since it remained as a stain." Vincent spat a few more times and confirmed his suspicion, somehow his dormant mutated blood cells became active in this world.
[Yes, it might have been different since it didn't evaporate. It also healed Lupa when in Overload form, so I guess if the blood is touching the source or a retainer, it won't evaporate.]
"I know I have read a lot of comics, but do you think my unknown mutation fused with the hero power I acquired in this world?" Vincent asked, full of curiosity. He wanted to know what Kazumi thought about his theory.
[Not sure, but since both classes have the word Soul at the beginning, that might be the case.]
Kazumi thought of the same possibility as him. That the mutation class needed the Hero class to work, thus Lupa reaching fifty percent Soul Synch gave him a new mutated power.
"Ok, now it's time to test out if I became stronger or not." Vincent gazed at a nearby old tree. This tree was about to become his punching bag as his shining eyes locked on it.
Vincent walked in front of the tree, took a stance while clenching his fists as tight as possible. Shortly, he twisted his upper body, and with the momentum, he shot his first punch.
When his fist struck the tree, a loud bang rang. Shortly after, a sound of the tree cracking under this assault could be heard. Vincent raised a grin when he felt no pain from punching the tree as hard as he could.
[Want to try more few rounds, big shot?]
Kazumi sarcastically said. However, these words filled Vincent with more adrenaline to throw more strong swings. One after the other, his green hard skin covering fists crashed against the tree with no intention to stop.
The tree swayed multiple times from the excited Vincent's barrage. He could only stop if his arms got tired because he couldn't feel his hands. However, the tree would fall first before the excitement of his new strength would wane.
From the multiple impacts, the more it swayed, the more loud cracks sounded. It couldn't last much longer at the assault of the Soul Hero.
Vincent felt tired by this workout. Not only he felt faster, stronger, and more receptive to his surroundings, but the green blood skin covering his arms didn't have a single scratch on them.
[Want to take a break or deliver the last few hits?]
Vincent shook his head, denying the chance of rest. His gaze remained, staring at the tree, riddled with cracks and ready to fall by his fists. Vincent took a pose while mustering all he had in the last final strike.
*Bam
The last strike collided against the tree; the sound released was louder, showing a more potent strike than the last. At this forceful impact, the tree couldn't resist the violence anymore and soon fell with a loud thud.
Lupa heard the faint sound of a tree in the distance. Her ears raised full attention to try and pick up more, but soon silence continued as it took all of Vincent to fell one tree with his fists.
Lupa worried about a possible enemy outside but wanted to protect Ester as well. With firm determination, she said, "Don't worry, sister. Lupa will protect you. I hope Vincent is ok and comes back soon. If trouble arises, then my claws will tear our enemies apart."
*Cough
"Ahh, the dust is in my eyes... *cough." Vincent carefully tried to wipe his face with the pair of hard hands. But such feat seemed impossible since he couldn't tell where his hands were.
[Why don't we go back? Lupa, with her heightened hearing, might have heard the tree falling. She might be worried that something has happened.]
"Ye, let's go *cough." Vincent began his return. He forgot the most important thing. A while later, he remembered and continued, "I forgot to inspect myself. Maybe I can find a hint on how to turn off this form."
[Name] Vincent Agius
[Condition] Healthy, Winded, Overheat (1:25)
[Soul Power] 0sp
[Class] Soul Hero
[Class] Soul Mutation
"Are you seeing this! Overheat form is considered a buff. It also has a timer." Vincent excitedly said. He stared at the timer watching the seconds slowly draining away.
[Hmm... I think it lasts around ten minutes.]
"That's useful. I hope it can be used anytime, unlike my Soul Power midnight reset." Vincent let a sigh as he felt the possibility of one use per day was very high.
Overheat felt like a strong ability. Vincent could defend or attack at the same time, which proved versatile. He also felt stronger, and the tree was his testament to a ten-minute power boost.
Vincent kept waking while pondering how much strong he became. Soon the buff ended, and Overheat stopped producing boiling mutated blood. A new notification message appeared.
[Overheat duration ended.]
[Host Race returning to human.]
Steam stopped rising from the sides of his mouth. The glowing eyes stopped shining, returning his appearance to a regular human instead of what Kazumi called him, a steam train.
The hard green skin around his arms began crumbling. In the blink of an eye, his green skin became riddled with cracks. With a single wave of his arm, the hard mutated skin fell as it couldn't stay attached anymore.
As the many pieces of thin skin fell, it crumbled into fine pieces in mid-air. The more pieces fell, the finer they became as they swayed and broke. Soon, under him was littered with green dust.
Vincent crouched and picked up this fine dust. First was a smell test. He raised his hand full of this green dust and took a whiff. With a puzzled frown, he said, "It smells like something recently burnt."
[You look like a wilderness survival expert, haha. Were you perhaps going for a taste test as well?]
"Fine, I won't." Vincent felt embarrassed. He was about to lick this dust. Then he threw the dust on the ground with a pair of embarrassing red cheeks.
Vincent tried to change the subject, so he decided to inspect the dust. It was the most practical solution to figure out what the substance is. A way to know for sure from his inspection ability.
[Name] Insert Name
"It's like what happened to Lupa. I can name it since this is the first time discovered by someone." Vincent felt like he was living inside a game because of the ability to name discovered things.
[If it smells like something burnt and its produced from your boiling blood. Why don't we name it Mutated Ash? Mutated Dust feels like the name of a drug.]
Vincent raised a cheerful childish smile. The name Mutated Ash came to his liking. With a curious gaze, he said, "This is Mutated Ash. What rare ash I found."
[Name] Mutated Ash
[Description] Created from the hardened blood remains of the host Vincent Agius mutation. Resists fire when hardened but combustible when not.
Vincent inspected the ash. Surprisingly, like what happened to Lupa happened to the Mutated Ash. It got named from the person that discovered it. The name of the person who created it was on it as well.
[There is still time. Want to check our surroundings? You made a ruckus after all.]
"One moment. Let me try to activate Overheat again." Vincent announced, but no matter how hard he tried or forced himself, Overheat didn't activate. As he thought, I was most likely a once per day gig.
[Slow down before you soil yourself.]
Vincent quickly stopped with great embarrassment. To calm himself from this embarrassing display, he looked around while pacing forward into the forest.
Vincent soon arrived in an area with a boulder and a few old trees. Behind the boulder was a large shade urging him to rest. It seemed like the perfect place to take a short nap.
Vincent sat down under the shade. He leaned his head against the boulder gazing at the trees gently rustling from the wind. He couldn't hear birds chirping. It seemed the storm drove them away.
It was quiet, and this scenery made him feel relaxed. He enjoyed this environment and felt as if it blew his worries away.
[While you rest, let me explore with Soul Extract. Like a chained dog, I can float outside of your body, but it quickly drains my mana so I can't stay outside of you for a long time. Maybe two minutes max.]
"You didn't have to put it that way. I feel like a bad person that way." Vincent sarcastically retorted with a frown.
[But aren't you a bad person already? You scammed a kind noble and stole the hearts of three innocent maidens.]
Kazumi sarcastically joked while leaving his body. Soon, a wisp floated in front of Vincent as it happily swayed being free in the world for once. Kazumi felt like a pet that hasn't been outside for a long time.
Kazumi left Vincent alone while using the short time she had to explore and see different things with her pair of wisp eyes. Kazumi felt happy like she became alive.
A few seconds before her time to return approached, Kazumi heard a weird sound. She turned her gaze from left to right, as her gaze lowered food appeared. Kazumi speedily returned inside his Soul Domain and told Vincent about her findings.
As Vincent went towards what Kazumi found, he could hear a weird squirming sound. It was as if someone was playing with something sticky.
Vincent arrived in front of a weird tree. It looked old but also covered with mold; the sun rays made sticky lines visible as they dangled from its branches like spider webs.
If Vincent didn't know what to search for as she told him there was food. At first glance, he thought Kazumi found spiders to eat. However, it wasn't the case.
Vincent had a conflicted expression when he noticed this food on the ground, but food was food. As he approached the food Kazumi found, his hand soon picked up a slimly looking snail.
[Name] Moldy Snail
[Condition] Healthy, Terrified
[Detail]
Attracted to trees in moist areas. Makes its chosen tree moldy to live.
Vincent used inspection, and once again, it mysteriously received another upgrade. LIke the Mutated Ash, a detail section now appeared in his inspection ability.
'Is Kazumi increasing my inspection skill with her Knowledge Class power? A free upgrade is always welcome.' Vincent thought.